Rotary internal combustion engine

ABSTRACT

A rotary engine having a cycle which includes the phases of precompressed fuel injection, combustion-expansion and exhaust and including a stator in which a cylindrical cavity is formed concentric with a given axis, a shaft being mounted on axial bearings of said stator to support a rotor within said cavity having three circumferentially spaced head portions, higher radially than the intervening peripheral portions and closely rotatably slideably fitting said cavity. Two diametrically opposed combustion stations are provided at opposite points in said stator, each said station including a pocket in the face of said cavity in an area small enough to be practically sealed shut when one of said rotor head portions is traveling past said area. An abutment holding chamber is formed radially outwardly in said cavity just in advance of each combustion pocket area, an abutment rocker being pivotally mounted in each chamber and biased into constant line sealing contact with said rotor. Spent gas exhaust ports are provided just behind these abutments. High compression fuel injection means is cam operated to inject a fuel charge into each pocket while the latter is shut and ignite this just before it is uncovered. Each abutment is jointly biased against the rotor by spring and gaseous pressure. Fuel and air are separately injected into said combustion pockets in timed relation with the rotation of said rotor in accordance with conventional diesel fuel injection procedures.

United States Patent Williams [451 Sept. 19,1972

1541 ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE [72] Inventor: Robert H.Williams, Rt. 2, Bandera,

Tex. 78003 [22] Filed: Feb. 8, 1971 [21] App1.No.: 113,189

[52] US. Cl. ..123/8.ll, 418/113, 418/250 [51] Int. Cl ..F01c 19/02,F02b 53/10 [58] Field of Search ...l23/8.09, 8.11, 8.13; 418/250,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 888,324 3/1908 MacLean..418/179 X 2,762,346 9/1956 White ..418/249 X 1,406,140 2/ 1922Anderson ..418/249 X 3,450,108 6/1969 Rich ..123/8.35 2,475,391 7/1949Johnson ..418/179 X 2,412,949 12/1946 Bronn et a1. ..123/8.13 X

Primary Examiner-William E. Wayner Attorney-Dana E. Keech [5 7 ABSTRACTA rotary engine having a cycle which includes the phases ofpre-compressed fuel injection, combustionexpansion and exhaust andincluding a stator in which a cylindrical cavity is formed concentricwith a given axis, a shaft being mounted on axial bearings of saidstator to support a rotor within said cavity having threecircumferentially spaced head portions, higher radially than theintervening peripheral portions and closely rotatably slideably fittingsaid cavity. Two diametrically opposed combustion stations are providedat opposite points in said stator, each said station including a pocketin the face of said cavity in an area small enough to be practicallysealed shut when one of said rotor head portions is traveling past saidarea. An abutment holding chamber is formed radially outwardly in saidcavity just in advance of each combustion pocket area, an abutmentrocker being pivotally mounted in each chamber and biased into constantline sealing contact with said rotor. Spent gas exhaust ports areprovided just behind these abutments. High compression fuel injectionmeans is cam operated to inject a fuel charge into each pocket while thelatter is shut and ignite this just before it is uncovered. Eachabutment is jointly biased against the rotor by spring and gaseouspressure. Fuel and air are separately injected into said combustionpockets in timed relation with the rotation of said rotor in accordancewith conventional diesel fuel injection procedures.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE SUMMARY OFTHE INVENTION The recent sky-rocketin g success of the Japaneseautomobile embodying a rotary internal combustion engine and licensedunder US. Letters Pat. to Wankel No. 2,988,065 has emphasized tremendousunexpected scientific and financial windfalls waiting to be harvested inthis long overlooked field of engineering.

The Wankel rotary combustion engine is still relatively complex andunorthodox in design requiring highly skilled technicians to build andmaintain the same.

It is an object of the present invention to apply the simple, tried andproven principles of the direct fuel injection diesel motor to the fieldof rotary combustion engine design and thus produce a very efficient andinexpensive source of power which can operate on low grade fuels with avery minimum amount of pollution gases being produced.

It is another object to provide a rotary internal combustion engineproducing six power impulses per revolution of the shaft of one unit andin which the rotor of a single unit is balanced, thus giving an abundantsmooth flow of power in an engine of relatively small size.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic fragmentaryside elevational view of the preferred embodiment of the inventionpartly broken away to show the mechanism for delivering compressed airand injecting liquid fuel into one of the combustion pockets of theengine in timed relation with the rotation of the engine rotor.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary diagrammatic sectional view taken on the line 22of FIG. 1 and showing the two combustion stations of the stator of theinvention and three combustion sealing heads provided on the rotor ofthe invention.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional detail view taken on the line 3-3 ofFIG. 1, and shows the cam valved compressed air feeder of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present inventionis shown in the drawings as embodied in a rotary internal combustionengine which includes a stator l 1 made up of side walls 12 and 13 and aperipheral wall 14, said walls forming a cylindrical cavity 15 in whicha rotor 16 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 17, suitable bearings ofwhich are provided for in the side walls 12 and 13.

Two combustion pockets 18 are formed outwardly in cylindrical cavity 15at diametrically opposite points therein, these pockets being formedparallel with shaft 17 and terminating a short distance at theiropposite ends from side walls 12 and 13 as shown in FIG. 1. A shortdistance in a counter-clockwise direction from each of the pockets 18,the cylindrical cavity 15 is provided with an abutment housing chamber20 which is parallel with shaft 17 and extends entirely through theperipheral wall 14, each of these chambers being shaped to house one ofa pair of abutments pivotally mounted on a shaft 26 and biased by aspring 27 into a sealing line contact with the periphery of rotor 16 atthe counter-clockwise edge of one of two transverse areas 28 of thecavity 15, in the middle of each of which one of the combustion pockets18 is located.

Each abutment housing 20 has an arcuate face 29 concentric with itsshaft 26, said face having a step 30 provided therein and the abutment25 mounted in said chamber has an arcuate face 31 with a step 32 whichmakes a close sliding fit with a corresponding mouth portion of thearcuate face 29. A recess 33 is thus formed between each abutment 25 andthe arcuate chamber face 29 and between the steps 30 and 32 whichfluctuates in volume as said abutment is biased varying distances fromthe housing 20 in order to maintain contact with the rotor 16. Thisrecess is connected by a small duct 34 with the adjacent combustionpocket 18.

A small portion of the gases of combustion formed in these combustionpockets thus flows through the duct 34 leading from that pocket to theadjacent recess 3, thus building up the gas pressure in said recesswhich, applied to abutment step 32, adds to the forces biasing saidabutment against said rotor.

Each of the combustion pockets 18 is provided with a diesel type liquidfuel injection nozzle 40 which is actuated by a rocker 41 pivotallymounted on the stator 11 and connected by a rod 42 with a roller 43which rides on a cam 44 adjustably mounted on shaft 17 by a set screw S.The cam 44 is provided with three lobes 45, each of which lifts theroller 43 to actuate the fuel injection nozzle 40 to inject a charge offuel into its combustion pocket 18 as that lobe passes under said roller43.

Each combustion pocket 18 also has a cam-controlled compressed-air threefeeder 46 including a slot 47 which contains the axis of a bore 48 forconfining a tubular valve member 49 which is mounted on trunnion 50 atits inner end and has a shaft 51 journaling in a threaded bearing 52 andcarrying a crank arm 53 on its outer end. Pivotally connected at itsupper end with the crank arm 53 is a connecting rod 54, the lower end ofwhich supports a roller 55 which rides on a cam 56 adjustably mounted onshaft 17 by a set screw 8'.

Slightly less than one-half of the tubular valve member 49 is machinedaway as shown in FIG. 3 so that it is impossible when cam rotating themember 49 in bore 48 to connect upper and lower portions of the slot 47with each other. In other words, only one of these slot portions can beconnected with the bore 48 at one time. The lower end portion of slot 47opens into the adjacent combustion pocket 18 and the upper portion ofsaid slot connects with a pipe 60 which leads to an air compression pump61. The cam 56 is provided with three lobes 62 equally spacedcircumferentially thereon so that the air feeder 46 functions to storeup a charge of air under high pressure in the bore 48 and thendischarges this charge of highly compressed air into the combustionpocket 18 connected therewith in conjunction with the injection of fuelthrough the injector 40 into said pocket whereby, in accordance withconventional diesel practice, the mixture of said fuel with saidcompressed air produces combustion of the charge and supplies the motiveforce for the engine 1 0.

The rotor 16 has the periphery thereof shaped to divide the same intothree pistons 65, each piston at the apex thereof providing acylindrical surface 66 concentric with the axis of shaft 17 andsubstantially equal in area to the transverse area 28 aforesaid andshown in FIG. 2. The peripheral areas 67 disposed between the pistons 65have smooth curved surfaces which, like the cylindrical faces of thepistons 65, extend uniformly the full length of rotor 16. Thecylindrical faces of pistons 65 are shaped to form a close sliding fitwith the cylindrical cavity in the stator l 1, although it is necessaryin diagrammatically illustrating these surfaces in FIG. 2 of thedrawing, to show a slight space between these two surfaces. This ofcourse is greatly in excess of the actual spacing of these surfaces inthe engine.

As a matter of fact, the heads of pistons 65 travel so closely to thecylindrical cavity 15 that when one of these heads is disposed oppositeone of the transverse areas 28 of said cavity it closes the combustionpocket 18 formed in said area so that the air and fuel delivered intosaid pocket during the time it is thus closed by said piston produces apressure in said pocket sufficient to ignite the fuel so that, as thepiston 65 closing the pocket and precipitating this combustion moves outof covering relation with said pocket in a clockwise direction, asindicated by the arrow 68, the combustion gases produced by thisexplosion expand into pressural relation with the reverse face of thispiston and is confined by the adjacent abutment 25 in this pressuralrelation with said piston so as to transmit the full expansive power ofthese combustion gases in applying torque to the rotor 16 in a clockwisedirection.

As the piston 65, involved in the production of the impulse stroke justdescribed, moves away from the combustion pocket 18 in which thecombustion took place (as shown in the lower half of FIG. 2), theadjacent abutment 25 swings inwardly a substantial distance out of itshousing chamber in order to maintain its biased sealing pressure againstthe adjacent peripheral surface 67 of rotor 16, the step 32 of thisabutment is exposed to the combustion gases engaging said abutment toapply torque force to said abutment tending to force the same intopressural relation with the adjacent peripheral surface 67 of the rotor16. This torque force is designedly to maintain the proper seal betweenthe abutment and the rotor required to confine the fuel gases againstreverse movement and thereby utilizing the maximum portion of theexpansive energy of these gases in producing clockwise torque forces inthe rotor 16.

Conventional exhaust passages 69 are provided in peripheral wall 14 justbehind abutment housing chambers 20, the exhaust gases flowing freelythrough said passages and being conducted to a suitable muffler by anexhaust manifold (not shown).

Attention is directed to the simplicity of the subject invention; to thefull 110 expansion stroke achieved thereby; to the fact that each unitsuch as that disclosed herein has a fully balanced rotor; that 6 powerimpulses are produced for each revolution; successive impulsesoverlapping each other; and to the fact that very slight movement of theabutments is required thereby greatly reducing the noise and wearproduced by these.

The rotor 16 of the invention is optionally provided with sealing vanes75, one of which is mounted just in advance of each of the pistons 65 ina transverse slot 76 formed in the rotor 16 which communicates at itsinner edge with a bore 77 provided in said rotor. Each vane 75 has areversely beveled outer edge and is limited in its outward movement by arow of pins 78 which engage the wall of the bore 77 when the vane 75provided with these pins shifts outwardly through the slit 76 a slightlygreater distance than the normal position of the vane when it is makinga sliding line-sealing engagement with the stator cavity 15 of thestator 14.

When the rotor 16 is equipped with sealing vanes 75 these supplement thesealing functions performed by the concentric faces 66 of the pistonswhen these are respectively opposite an area 28 of the stator cavity 15,As a matter of fact, when the rotor 16 is equipped with sealing vanes75, a considerably lower tolerance may be indulged in the spacingbetween the piston head surfaces 66 and said stator cavity because eachselling vane makes an even better seal with the cavity 15 than thepiston 65 with which said vane is associated.

While one of the principal objects of the present invention is toprovide an engine receiving fuel by injection in accordance withconventional diesel practice, the engine 10 is also adapted to receiveby injection high octane fuels along with compressed air injectedcoordinately therewith and to fire these fuel charges with conventionalspark plugs such as spark plug shown in FIG. 1. This plug is preferablymounted in the peripheral wall 14 of the stator 11 so as to provide anigniting spark in the combustion pocket 18 with which it is associated,there being of course one of these plugs for each of these pockets. Theenergizing of spark plugs 80 is controlled by a conventional hightension electric ignition system driven in timed relation with therotation of shaft 17.

Iclaim:

1. A rotary internal combustion engine having a cycle which includes thephases of pre-compressed-fuel injection, combustion-expansion andexhaust, said engine comprising:

an outer body having spaced end walls and a peripheral wallinterconnecting said end walls to define between said walls a cavityhaving an axis along which said end walls are spaced, the inner surfaceof said peripheral wall having a profile which is coaxial with saidaxis;

an inner body received within said outer body cavity and supported forrelative rotation with respect to said outer body about the axis of saidouter body cavity;

said inner body having at least one piston head subtending a substantialarea of said cavity, the peripheral surface of said head being disposedin close juxtaposition with the surface of said cavity, the radius ofthe peripheral surface of said inner body decreasing circumferentiallyin both directions from said head;

means providing a transversely disposed combustion pocket openingradially outwardly from said cavity, the circumferential dimension ofsaid pocket being small enough to be fully covered by said inner bodyhead when the latter is disposed opposite said area the radial dimensionof said pocket being substantially less than said circumferentialdimension;

means providing an abutment enclosing chamber formed radially outward insaid peripheral wall a short distance behind said pocket;

abutment means mounted in said chamber including an abutment and meansfor biasing said abutment inwardly from said chamber into line-sealingcontact with the periphery of said inner body;

means for the escape of exhaust gases accummulating between said innerbody and outer body just behind said abutment; and

means connecting radially with said pocket at transversely spacedintervals for injecting a combustible fuel charge in said pocket inproper timed relation with the rotation of said inner body andaccomplishing the firing of said charge substantially contemporaneouslywith the uncovering of said pocket by said piston head.

2. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein said means for biasingsaid abutment inwardly from said abutment chamber into line sealingcontact with the periphery of said body includes an unbalanced lipformed on the edge portion of said abutment contacting said inner body,said lip being exposed to the combustion gases formed in said pocket toimpart a torque to said abutment which increases the pressure of saidabutment against said inner body.

3. A combination as recited in claim 2 wherein said abutment makes asmooth sliding fit in said abutment chamber,

there being a step formed in the mouth of said abutment chamber whichinterfits with said lip, the latter making a smooth sliding fittherewith to enclose a recess between said abutment and said step whensaid inner body swings said abutment outwardly into said abutmentchamber;

there being a duct in said peripheral wall connecting said combustionpocket with said recess for admitting combustion gases from said pocketto said recess and into contact with said abutment lip.

1. A rotary internal combustion engine having a cycle which includes thephases of pre-compressed-fuel injection, combustionexpansion andexhaust, said engine comprising: an outer body having spaced end wallsand a peripheral wall interconnecting said end walls to define betweensaid walls a cavity having an axis along which said end walls arespaced, the inner surface of said peripheral wall having a profile whichis coaxial with said axis; an inner body received within said outer bodycavity and supported for relative rotation with respect to said outerbody about the axis of said outer body cavity; said inner body having atleast one piston head subtending a substantial area of said cavity, theperipheral surface of said head being disposed in close juxtapositionwith the surface of said cavity, the radius of the peripheral surface ofsaid inner body decreasing circumferentially in both directions fromsaid head; means providing a transversely disposed combustion pocketopening radially outwardly from said cavity, the circumferentialdimension of said pocket being small enough to be fully covered by saidinner body head when the latter is disposed opposite said area theradial dimension of said pocket being substantially less than saidcircumferential dimension; means providing an abutment enclosing chamberformed radially outward in said peripheral wall a short distance behindsaid pocket; abutment means mounted in said chamber including anabutment and means for biasing said abutment inwardly from said chamberinto line-sealing contact with the periphery of said inner body; meansfor the escape of exhaust gases accummulating between said inner bodyand outer body just behind said abutment; and means connecting radiallywith said pocket at transversely spaced intervals for injecting acombustible fuel charge in said pocket in proper timed relation with therotation of said inner body and accomplishing the firing of said chargesubstantially contemporaneously with the uncovering of said pocket bysaid piston head.
 2. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein saidmeans for biasing said abutment inwardly from said abutment chamber intoline sealing contact with the periphery of said body includes anunbalanced lip formed on the edge portion of said abutment contactingsaid inner body, said lip being exposed to the combustion gases forMedin said pocket to impart a torque to said abutment which increases thepressure of said abutment against said inner body.
 3. A combination asrecited in claim 2 wherein said abutment makes a smooth sliding fit insaid abutment chamber, there being a step formed in the mouth of saidabutment chamber which interfits with said lip, the latter making asmooth sliding fit therewith to enclose a recess between said abutmentand said step when said inner body swings said abutment outwardly intosaid abutment chamber; there being a duct in said peripheral wallconnecting said combustion pocket with said recess for admittingcombustion gases from said pocket to said recess and into contact withsaid abutment lip.